Accommodation for Paul’s Entourage

Abstract

Abstract The practicalities of accommodation for Paul’s entourage as it travelled around the Mediterranean have been little studied. The entourage could comprise at least nine co-workers, to whom should be added several slaves, since even under house arrest in Rome Paul had a personal assistant, who was definitely a slave, and an amanuensis. Such an entourage required hosts with large houses and there are hints in Acts that small business entrepreneurs and other hosts did have substantial dwellings. In Rome it seems that Paul paid for accommodation in relatively spacious quarters, allowing for a team of seven people (plus slaves) and sometimes a crowd of visitors; however, the term µίσθωµα probably does not refer to Paul’s rented lodgings but to payment of their cost. Greek traditions on hospitality provide a context into which the generosity of Paul’s hosts fits well.